Month: December 2022

The ability to build

The ability to build – by David Hoang – Proof of Concept:

They’re not dogmatic about tools and methods
Building is about the output and making it exists in the intended environment. Though I work for a company that focuses on no-code tools, I love code and programming. Whether you choose to use a graphical user interface (GUI) like Webflow or write code in a text editor, the end desired output is a website to share on the internet. Great builders also rightsize what’s needed. They’re not going to spin up a full React app that a static site can accomplish.

They understand assembly points
Seasoned builders have a tendency to creat their own systems that are reusable, such as a design engineer constructing a UIKit or an entrepreneur building a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). As you get comfortable with building, you’ll recognize patterns and assembly points—the important functional considerations of what you’re constructing. Understanding this allows you to understand the important mechanics that you need to get right.

They start, and start fast
Start so fast the speed of your building velocity surpasses the noise of people vocalizing about building. The same way rapid sketching aides you in refining an idea, building the initial scaffolding of an idea gives you the ability to identify the assembly points that need to be refined.

[Well said.]

Managing “Login Items” for macOS Ventura | by Robert Hammen | Medium

Managing “Login Items” for macOS Ventura | by Robert Hammen | Medium:

The concern for folks who manage macOS at scale is that users are able to simply flip a toggle to disable their management tools. Or security tools. Making it that easy to turn off essential tools is obviously undesirable. Fortunately, in later betas of macOS 13, Apple has given system administrators the ability to prevent users from simply toggling off these essential tools. You will need to create a configuration profile to manage these settings. Apple documentation is here: https://github.com/apple/device-management/blob/release/mdm/profiles/com.apple.servicemanagement.yaml

[Nice.]

MINICOOL one spray unit 479mm – MC2000 | Minicool | Noga Engineering

MINICOOL one spray unit 479mm – MC2000 | Minicool | Noga Engineering:

NOGA Minicool is using the VENTURI principle to spray an air + liquid mixture. The Minicool enables the user to easily control both the air flow rate and liquid rate.
– Strong magnetic base.
– Separate o/off air and fluid control.
– Stainless steel armoured syphone hose and air hose.
– Simple,inexpensive,rugged.
– Nozzle connected via Loc-Line® flexible hose.
– Single spray unit.
– Also available with 2m syphon hose (order no. MC2010), or with 2m Air hose (order no. MC2020), or with 2m Air and Syphon hoses (order no. MC2030)

[Sweet!]

Announcing Auth.js

Announcing Auth.js:

Announcing Auth.js! 🔒Authentication for the Web.

– Brand new `@​auth/core` package,
– Runtime/framework agnostic
– Web standard APIs
– Builds on NextAuth.js conventions/API
– Decoupled from Next.js & Node.js.

We’re adding official support for new frameworks…
Starting with SvelteKit! 🎉

Today, SvelteKit 1.0 was announced, and we thought that
this is the perfect opportunity to let everyone know what we’ve been working on.

[Hmm]

Reimagining Democracy – Schneier on Security

Reimagining Democracy – Schneier on Security:

What could democracy look like if it were reinvented today? Would it even be democracy —what comes after democracy?

Some questions to think about:

Representative democracies were built under the assumption that travel and communications were difficult. Does it still make sense to organize our representative units by geography? Or to send representatives far away to create laws in our name? Is there a better way for people to choose collective representatives?
Indeed, the very idea of representative government is due to technological limitations. If an AI system could find the optimal solution for balancing every voter’s preferences, would it still make sense to have representatives —or should we vote for ideas and goals instead?
With today’s technology, we can vote anywhere and any time. How should we organize the temporal pattern of voting— and of other forms of participation?
Starting from scratch, what is today’s ideal government structure? Does it make sense to have a singular leader “in charge” of everything? How should we constrain power —is there something better than the legislative/judicial/executive set of checks and balances?
The size of contemporary political units ranges from a few people in a room to vast nation-states and alliances. Within one country, what might the smaller units be —and how do they relate to one another?
Who has a voice in the government? What does “citizen” mean? What about children? Animals? Future people (and animals)? Corporations? The land?
And much more: What about the justice system? Is the twelfth-century jury form still relevant? How do we define fairness? Limit financial and military power? Keep our system robust to psychological manipulation?

[Hmmm…]

Bloomberg: Apple planning to change course, allow third-party app stores and more – Six Colors

Bloomberg: Apple planning to change course, allow third-party app stores and more – Six Colors:

The usually well-sourced Mark Gurman at Bloomberg with the scoop:

Software engineering and services employees are engaged in a major push to open up key elements of Apple’s platforms, according to people familiar with the efforts. As part of the changes, customers could ultimately download third-party software to their iPhones and iPads without using the company’s App Store, sidestepping Apple’s restrictions and the up-to-30% commission it imposes on payments.

If this pans out, it’s not only a groundshaking change to a major chunk of Apple’s Services revenue, but also a 180-degree change to what has been probably the most contentious element of the company’s business. Apple hasn’t, of this writing, confirmed the plan.

[🍿]

Crowned CBN Grinding Wheels

Crowned CBN Grinding Wheels:

Crowned CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) grinding wheels provide a precise, clean, and cool-running alternative to bonded abrasive grit wheels. We worked with Woodturners Wonders to design a wheel specifically for hollow-grinding chisels, plane irons, and other woodworking tools. Joel has long been a proponent of hollow-grinding chisels and plane irons, because it makes honing so much easier. However, for many folks even high-quality bonded abrasive wheels are too dusty, difficult to maintain, or challenging to dress.

[Time to try these.]

Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections – Apple

Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections – Apple:

Apple today introduced three advanced security features focused on protecting against threats to user data in the cloud, representing the next step in its ongoing effort to provide users with even stronger ways to protect their data. With iMessage Contact Key Verification, users can verify they are communicating only with whom they intend. With Security Keys for Apple ID, users have the choice to require a physical security key to sign in to their Apple ID account. And with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which uses end-to-end encryption to provide Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, users have the choice to further protect important iCloud data, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.

The below is a nice touch… I dig it!

Apple introduced two-factor authentication for Apple ID in 2015. Today, with more than 95 percent of active iCloud accounts using this protection, it is the most widely used two-factor account security system in the world that we’re aware of. Now with Security Keys, users will have the choice to make use of third-party hardware security keys to enhance this protection. This feature is designed for users who, often due to their public profile, face concerted threats to their online accounts, such as celebrities, journalists, and members of government. For users who opt in, Security Keys strengthens Apple’s two-factor authentication by requiring a hardware security key as one of the two factors. This takes our two-factor authentication even further, preventing even an advanced attacker from obtaining a user’s second factor in a phishing scam.

[Making security easy is really hard. That 95% is pretty amazing outside of corporate you-don’t-have-a-choice settings. Allez!]

Abstraction is Expensive – Speculative Branches

Abstraction is Expensive – Speculative Branches:

Ideally, you would like all of the abstractions you use to have aligned goals with your system. If you can buy a dependency that aligns with your goals, that’s great. If not, you will likely have to “massage” your dependencies to be able to do what you want. This is the first time an abstraction costs you. If you use the wrong database schema (or the wrong technology), you may find yourself scanning database tables when a different schema would do a single lookup. For a non-database example, if you make an electron-based computer game, it will likely be unplayably slow (but you will be able to build it in record time!).

[Abstractions can be a complete drag…]